The Ace of Spades is a Hunter-specific Hand Cannon that fits into the mid-impact archetype. The weapon has 12 bullets in the magazine and is capable of clearing entire rooms of enemies without reloading using the Maverick perk, which reloads one bullet from the reserves after a precision kill.

The Ace of Spades rewards precision kills with two main bonuses: With Firefly, all precision kills become explosive shots that do damage to nearby enemies. With Maverick, precision kills grants a bullet from your ammo reserve into the magazine. Both these perks are more useful against groups of weaker enemies, as they will not activate as frequently with stronger enemies who require multiple shots to bring down, possibly meaning that a player can expend all their ammo without reloading at all.

The Ace of Spades returns in the Forsaken expansion. Unlike its Destiny incarnation, it is no longer restricted to Hunters. In PvP, it has proven itself to be an extremely powerful weapon, outperforming hand cannons in the same archetype and others including, but not limited to, Better Devils, Dire Promise, and Jack Queen King 3. Memento Mori grants the user radar even when aiming down sights, a trait which is shared with MIDA Multi-Tool. The perk also grants five increased damage bullets after every kill and reload, and when paired with its Firefly perk, gives it an effect similar the Kill Clip/Outlaw combination seen on other, legendary weapons. However, unlike that combination, Memento Mori's effect remains even when switching weapons, and only wears off when the user is killed or when all six bullets are expended, and not over time.

In folklore, the ace of spades is traditionally known as The Death Card due to its long tradition with war.[3]

The Hunter Vanguard representative Cayde-6 is seen wielding the Ace of Spades in the official Destiny 2 trailer, killing Cabal while fanning the hammer like the Last Word. It's revealed in Destiny 2 that Cayde commissioned Banshee-44 to have the gun built as his signature weapon.

Ironically in the opening of the Forsaken expansion, Prince Uldren kills Cayde-6 with the Ace of Spades, Cayde's own gun.

The 'Firefly' Special perk is likely a reference to the television show of the same name. Nathan Fillion, the voice actor for Cayde-6, had a starring role in the show.